Wakey Wakey by Pam Massey from Pam Massey

I volunteered to write about our 'wake' and now I am stuck for words …..! Unusual for me you might say. Well it's not that I don't have any thoughts on the subject, it's just how to express how I felt.

In a nutshell, it was a good night, but for me it was almost an emotional experience. Nothing to do with leaving the hall. We've been a good 8 years or so at Wembley Scout Hall, but I feel no sentimental attachment to it. (For those who have joined during our Wembley reign, you may be interested to know that we were at North Perth Town Hall, and before that at the Peninsular in Maylands. There was a 'before that' too but that was before my time).

My stirred emotions were to do with the people not with the building. What a diverse bunch of interesting characters we are! Someone counted 52 people (and that's quite some feet(!) in itself, as dancers don't tend to stand still!) Many were dressed in a colourful collection of blacks, and black balloons and streamers decorated the hall. Cyndie walked in with her black and white dog and they both joined the circle, dancing as if it were all perfectly normal. And no-one seemed to bat an eyelid! (The dog took the lead of course).

As we consumed 2 tables full of sumptuous black food, a surprise cake (compliments of Peter Fallon) came out and was ceremoniously cut by our President Martin. A spontaneous combustion of Auld Lang Syne was sung around the cake. And then another surprise, to which all credit (or blame) goes to Leone, who rewrote 'What a Swell Party this is' which was performed by the incorrigible 'Pitman Sisters'.

Following the closure of the Wembley/Cambridge Scout Hall the Group moved to its new hall in Nedlands on 24^th August.

The party that we had to farewell the old hall went so well that we're going to hold another party on 28^th September! It will be at the new hall in Nedlands and will be a combination Hall Warming party and a farewell to Fiona, who will be leaving Perth on the 30^th. The 28^th is the Queen's birthday holiday and normally we would not dance, however this is a special occasion so please mark it in your diary and come along and help us celebrate. Wear something colourful and ethnic this time; not black at any rate!!

We'll start at our normal time of 7pm and dance 'til late. Please bring a plate!

With this issue of Grapevine we have included a flyer for Fiona's workshops which will be held in four sessions over the week-end of the 19^th and 20^th September. Yes that soon! We're holding the workshops in yet another new venue; the Star of the Sea Hall at 440 Stirling Hwy, Peppermint Grove. Come along and join us in learning some great new dances and meeting some old friends; and some new friends!!

In the evening we're having a celebration party at the Star of the Sea hall, starting at 7:30pm, so bring a partner and a plate and join in. See flyer for more details.

We hope to see you there!!

A Film Folkus! by Maree Kovald

There are many who would balk at the idea of spending a whole evening watching home movies of someone else's holidays. Well they obviously haven't enjoyed such an evening at Pam Massey's place!!

There was much talking, laughing, eating and drinking with the usual PIFDG format of everyone bringing a plate for supper.

Some of us were taken back along Memory Lane, while others just sat back and enjoyed the introduction to Bulgaria and to the Kimberleys.

Of course being Pam's films, along with the colourful descriptions, there were the inevitable escapades, evoking the appropriate teasing of course!!

First we headed for rural Bulgaria, a town whose name I can neither read nor pronounce but I can remember from my trip there in '96. It was only a short film but it captured the sense of stepping into not just a different place, but also a different time with hay-carts and manual harvesting. A place and people whose beauty and personality can charm away the awareness of social issues such as 80% unemployment. It's a country where, despite a history of poverty, a vibrant craft and dance culture thrive, as filming a local festival showed.

We were then taken from one world to another; from stone and timber houses with shutters to ward off harsh winters, to rambling station homesteads with verandahs and breezeways to ward off our summer blaze; from sloping green hills to rugged red gorges; from quaint little villages, where cows amble home to their own courtyard after a days pasturing in nearby fields, to the Ozzie outback where cattle are rounded up by helicopter, with pilots paving a new pathway from traditional droving on horseback. We all shared Pam's nerves in the 'copter as we whizzed past at breakneck speed!!

Two worlds far apart and yet so close. We can reach either by boarding a plane or watching a movie; and yet they are distant enough to preserve the magic they hold for us.

I went home feeling happy and content with both memories of the past and dreams of future travels.

I can echo Pam in marvelling at how a group of such diverse personalities and backgrounds come together and create such a pleasant atmosphere of warmth and mateship. We are more than just a dance group and I'm pleased to be part of it.